April 6, 2010

Create a network installation point for Office 2010

This article describes how to create, replicate, and secure a network installation point for the deployment of Microsoft Office 2010. Typically, this is the first step in a corporate deployment of Office 2010. To do this, you copy all the source files from the Office installation CD to a shared location on the network. Users run Setup from the network installation point, or you use the installation point as a starting place to create a hard-disk image or a custom CD or to distribute Office by using a software deployment tool, such as Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2010.

Create the Network Installation Point:

Use the following procedure to create a network installation point.

1. Create a folder for the Office source files at a location that can be easily accessed on the server. For example:

\\server\share\Office14

2. Insert the Office CD into your CD drive.

3. In Windows Explorer, select all the files and folders on the CD. Copy the CD contents to the folder on the network. This location becomes the network installation point.

4. If you deploy multiple language versions of Office 2010, copy each language pack that you want from the source media to the installation point. When you are prompted to overwrite duplicate Setup files, click No.

5. If you deploy multiple Office 2010 products, copy those files from the CD to the installation point. When you are prompted to overwrite duplicate Setup files, click No.

6. If you create a Setup customization file (.msp file) for the installation, store the file in the Updates folder at the root of the installation point.

Or, you can enter the /adminfile option at the command prompt to specify a Setup customization file.

7. If users are installing Office 2010 after product updates are released, store those .msp files in the Updates folder.

Replicate the network installation point:

In many enterprise organizations, the network installation point is the location from which users first install Office. After Office 2010 is installed, users do not typically have to rely on the network source for tasks such as updating, modifying, or reinstalling Office. Setup automatically creates a local installation source on each user's computer. However, if the local source is corrupted or deleted, Setup returns to the original network source to re-create the local source on the user's computer.

We recommend that you replicate the network source to multiple locations for the following reasons:

Availability If you create multiple network installation points (which can be in the same physical location), you help ensure that users always have access to a network source. Ideally, the duplicate network installation points are managed by Distributed File System (DFS) technologies and are transparent to users.

Proximity to users Many companies have high-speed LAN networks that are connected to other subsidiaries or branch offices by much slower WAN connections. If you set up a duplicate network installation point at the remote locations, Office source files travel over the slow network connection only one time, and after that, users have access to a closer network source.

Consistency If you create one network installation point with all the customizations that you want and then duplicate that installation point as needed, you help ensure that the same configuration is deployed throughout your organization.

Flexibility If the primary network installation point installs a standard corporate configuration of Office 2010, regional offices can apply additional customizations to the replicated network installation points and can customize Office 2010 for their unique region-specific requirements.

To specify additional network sources

In the Setup section, click Additional Network Sources, and then click Add. In the Add Network Server Entry dialog box, enter the path of the location where you plan to copy the network installation point, and then click OK.

You can add as many additional source locations as you want.

Save the Setup customization file (.msp file) that is generated by the OCT in the Updates folder at the root of the network installation point.

Copy the complete folder structure of the network installation point to the locations that you specified in the Setup customization file.

Users who install Office 2010 from any of these network installation points have access to the backup network sources. Setup checks these sources automatically when an alternative source is required.

Secure the network installation point:

To help make the network installation point for Office more secure, follow these recommended best practices:

Make sure that access to source files is read-only. (The Setup.xml and Package.xml files, such as ProPlusWW.xml for Microsoft Office Professional 2010, are digitally signed and cannot be modified.)

Save all customization files that you create as read-only. These include Setup customization files and custom Config.xml files.

If you are centralizing log files on the network, make sure that users have read/write permission to that location.

Make sure that all users have administrative permissions before the users install Office 2010. You can do this by using your existing software deployment infrastructure.

As with any deployment of Office, test all the customizations and deployment in a non-production environment as part of the deployment pilot tests before you deploy Office 2010 to users in the organization.

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